Just want to take a minute to acknowledge how high you set the bar for a Smart Home TH-cam videos. Always great impartial advice, regular updates (like this video), and you make watching these videos both easy to navigate and fun to watch.
Awesome video! It'll get even more people into this awesome hobby! 🤩And of course thank you so much for the shout out for my boards, really really appreciated! 🤯
This is a massive mainstream acknowledgement of your hard work and continuing dedication. Coming from the face of an industry that has generally ignored genius in order to sell more of the proprietary garbage controllers they've stockpiled in their garages and basements. They didn't understand the technology and your often smoking brilliance before investing everything on more popular yet incredibly inferior (and soon to be obsolete) controller hardware and software. I've seen them blatantly boycott you on almost every platform from TH-cam to Reddit just to maximize profit rather than backing Intermit.Tech from the beginning like they should have. Thank you Quindor and Air cookie: for you have single handedly changed the entire game and we won't ever forget it.
@@CharlieLOL Oh wow just seeing this comment now, thank you very much for the kind words! Hand in hand (hardware and software) we're both very happy how it makes these types of installs so much easier and approachable for normal people (like we are too)! Let's see what we can do in the coming years! :D
I got word from Quindor that the QuinLED DigQuad V3 is available now in the international store and should be in the DrZzs US store within the next day or two. Video correction: The size heat shrink for joining LED strips should be 3/8" not 3/4", the correct product is linked in the store page.
Thank you for the update…removing the resistor solved issues I’ve been having with a long run to some arches! I tried boosters, including the one shown without totally being able to solve the problem. Removed the resistor and all is good! Wanted to mention that I did something that I haven’t seen anyone else do…I couldn’t decide between strips shining towards or away from my house, so I did both! I put strips in a diffused channel, then stuck a second strip to the back side of the channel pointed towards the house. Now the color lighting up my house can be different than the animations on my strip facing the street. 😎👍
If you have pictures I'd also like to see the difference between pointing towards the street or towards the ground. My house is brown and soffit is white, so I'm guessing for me pointing out would give a better effect. (reflecting off the white soffit)
I know that you could in theory take these same steps and make a tree lighting rig; one that could be wrapped on a tree this year, taken down at the end of the season, and then used again next year. I think that would be an amazing new video. Don't you? Well if not, maybe I'll get around to it soon myself. Thanks for the updated info.
Thanks for another great video, I have used your and Dr Zzs videos alot as I have started playing around with the hobby. I had put up a permanent install of roof line LED's last year, adding a little at a time over the different holidays definitely spreads the costs out, and having great videos like this makes it easier to keep up with changes. Again, thanks Rob.
Wow this is absolutely fantastic! Such high production quality too! I plan to start small this year with my dig-quad v1 and 600 lights on my Christmas tree for easier power injection using those fairy LEDs. My ultimate goal is the set up that you have on the house. Thank you for such an amazing video! Your channel along with Dr.Zzs and Quindor are the best!
Thanks Rob will do! I already have it all wired up on my desk to test everything and just need to carefully transfer it to the tree in the next couple of days. Thanks for the advice.
@@TheHookUp I see what you mean about being careful. I was putting the last strand on the tree and one of the LEDs on that last strand started smoking!! I had to unplug real quick and replace the strip. Inside one of the actual LEDs was all charred and black. Geesh! It was actually about to start a fire.
Absolutely amazing guide and thanks for doing all the grunt work! Right now I'm trying to decide between this or paying for a permanent system. Not sure I have the energy to diy this.
I have a few friends with the pro kind. My only real issue with them is the spacing, most of the big companies limit you to 4 inch spacing or more (some as high as 12" spacing!), which looks fine for Christmas but odd during other holidays and limits animations.
@@TheHookUp That was actually my first question to them, typical length is 9" and shortest they go is 6", but I'm pretty sure that would double the price.
Where was this video last month?! I am midway through installing permanent lights on the roof line of the house. I started the project in late September to avoid the rush of trying to get it done before Thanksgiving. I scoured TH-cam for bits of information, to include every video you and Dr zZz have put out on the topic. This video combines all of that into one spot. Just watched it and still pulled out some good information. Thanks!
Quindor has a really good video explaining why 33 ohm is the right resistor to use if you are using a 3-wire combined data/power line and 249 ohm is the right resistor if you are using a 2-wire power wire and a separate 1-wire data wire.
Really appreciate all your videos but after showing this one to my wife she agreed to overcome her aversion and "test" some led strip lighting in an inconspicuous place outside (far away from the house) and if it goes OK then we can talk again lol! So I just ordered a dig-uno! Thanks again!
OK so I've FINALLY decided after 3 years LOL I'm going to follow your guides because you have a great system for perm lights. NOW just to buy all the stuff required...... I'd like to work on this during the summer to be ready for Christmas 2022...... Thank you!
This is seriously amazing. I've been following you for about 4 years now. Thank you for doing what you do. I don't have the particularly best home to do this because most of it isn't seen by the street. After seeing this, I feel more enticed to do a project like this. Thank you for doing what you do (again!)
I was waiting for this video! Dr. ZZzz hadn't put one out yet and I really dislike watching hour long live streams to find 5 minutes of content. Thank you so much!
Glad I saw this video. Years ago I looked into the systems provided by HolidayCoro, Hinks, and similar, and kind of scowled at how "closed" they seemed. Yeah, the protocols were open, but an ESP32 is a lot more OPEN than what I saw then. Was one of those projects that I wanted to do, but they looked like they were going to be a big hassle to finish. The megatrees are enticing, but everything else felt like a minefield where a single misstep leads to weeks wasted and foul language This spring, I think I've got a new project
You, Sir, are a TH-cam ninja. This content is comprehensive & organized, the order and presentation are clearly well thought out, and each topic is succinctly conveyed with video that cogently illustrates the accompanying point you're conveying. I would feel confident using this 22 minute video as my singular resource to obtain, install & maintain LED holiday lighting. Amazing! Thank you! Liked & Subscribed.
I really want to do this. My neighbor just had a service come out and do an install on their house. I asked what their quote was. $4k... I just put the stuff you recommended in my Amazon cart. $600-ish. It would definitely be nice to just flip a switch and the lights are on and customizable.
I'm a bit surprised to see more fails with 12V rather than 5V considering the current through the wire on 12V is significantly lower if the same power is being delivered. It is true that 12V has a higher chance of arcing, but the distance to arc to common is extremely small.
I was thinking of redoing my stairs and was looking into led strip lighting. and this came up! and all I have to say is wow! I didn't know so much could be done. Definitely gonna look at your videos and learn a bit more. if my stair project comes out great. I may just want to do this for outside lighting as well!. Great video! lots of good information!
Dude, I just found your channel and browsed through a lot of your videos and ❤️ the content! I’m MAD 😡 at myself for not finding your channel earlier! New subscriber here 🤗 and super excited to binge watch your past videos.
Awesome video, Thanks! My plan is to install a permanent setup this spring, I can start ordering parts. I've been using WLED for a couple of years for my kitchen lighting with home assistant and some 8266 controllers, no issues at all. If it ever fails I'll need to relearn my setup because I haven't touched it in so long I don't remember the details anymore.
I’m new to all this, this is my first year and used all of your beginner videos. Learned to solder and all from you. Got a complete custom setup now, garage door, roof line and the peak roof Line. Finalizing my power injections and I hope it all works.
I had seen posting on using JChannel and Pixels, that require a lot of drilling. the UChannel is nearly the same price, less labor and better finish. Awesome. My only complaint, is using a Western Union Splice. That splice is used for mechanical stress(tension), but it not the best for conductivity. Linemans splice is a better splice.
Thank you TH-cam algorithm. I was just thinking about checking on this to see if it's worth "never having to decorate for the holidays again" 🤔 (16 hours after upload at time of comment)
Stunning new 'How To' and this really helped tip me into the QuinLED camp. Just given how late in the year it already is, this will be a project for Spring 2022. But my recent experience in using LED strips and aluminum channel for lighting my pergola (more thanks for flagging that awesome patio addition in your earlier video!) has made me pretty confident that this will be a successful project. Thanks for the research and the tips!
The 5v fire test you performed is fascinating to me. I need to look more into the details because I have had solid core 22 gauge wire almost instantly heat up enough to burn my fingers and start melting the plastic from a short. I have also had a USB-C cable in my car scorch and melt part of the floor matt because it was plugged in and came to rest in a small puddle of salty water on the floor.
@@PoisonWaffle3 For some variants with the right power supply this is true. But in my case it was plugged into my 2016 Tacoma USB port which outputs 2.1A at 5v.
Lots of good information / content here. I do like how he put everything into one video and it does go over many of the problems that are faced when choosing a particular type (and voltage) of LEDs.
FYI - Falcon are up to V4. Also, although you have been fine with strip (apart from the lightning storm), it tends to not last as well in colder, harsher climates. YMMV. Excelent video as always, and prop to Quindor and Aircookie for their awesome work.
Good info on the falcon controller. I don't follow that scene super closely. I used to think the same about strips, but in my last video I asked for people's experience with strips based on climate and it was a mixed bag. Small sample size, but about 50 people responded with their information and there was no correlation between success and failure based on climate.
So with parallel injection, I can run one continuous wire along the whole house (200ft) and just splice and solder the LEDs into that same wire every strip? I don’t have to run a separate injection wire for every strip, do I?
Any chance you have a video or diagram of how exactly everything is ran and where everything is installed? Very curious to see a real life setup/install.
How do you run power to your lights along the curb line? maybe you could do a video on how you run power to lights on the ground? What lights are you using along the curb as well?
Lol I had to rewind certain parts like 5 times to understand what he's saying. Or...turn the speed down! All good though., there's a lot of stuff there, awesome.
Wow - learned something new - the data line resistor may very well be the issue with my dig-uno's flickering. The data line is only about 10 feet to the light string but still get flickering. Yeah I know there are many things that can cause the flickering but I think I have tested for and eliminated all other possibilities. Thanks Rob!
Oh, I was going to say, my biggest fear is that I buy too much or not enough or whatever and I just didn't plan everything out correctly. I'll be watching your videos through a few more times.
Great video! Is there any guidance on how far away from the first strip of lights the power supply and controller can be? I want to put the power and controller in my garage and then run the power and data cables to the roofline, approx 10-15m before hitting the first lights. Will that cause issues?
Can you expand on the parallel run for power injection? Can I run a 22awg wire along the strips and use a T tap connector to inject at each strip? Is there a limit how far the 22awg can be?
Been sort of waiting in the wings for tech like this to become more user friendly for my business. This is still nerd level 9 but being able to show a customer the possibilities seems doable now. I'm honestly shocked that I don't see inward-facing eve lighting hardly anywhere but it's definitely the future. The clean unnoticeable track of outward facing pick your mood/ holiday lighting is amazing too. Does someone make a wired booster track diffuser combo type of thingy? Guess it's no big deal to lay a wire with the strip but it's nice to have stuff super tidy.
My house looks a little like yours. Can you tee off of the string on the bottom eaves (power, ground, data lines) and run wire (with no leds) up to the second floor eaves and then connect a second set of leds to that? What I mean is a strip of bare wire in the middle.
Thank you again for an awesome video! I know I’m cutting it close to this year’s season, but there are a few questions I have that don’t seem to be answered directly when research getting into this. 1) I’m a little under-knowledged on the power injection points, and specifically, where/how often they need to happen. You mention running the power line in the channel with the strip; is that the way the whole thing is done? Then the ‘how often’ is related to your strip model? Do you run the power line right on top of, but along the side of the strip? Under the strip? 2) Controllers: it’s not clear to me how, and specifically where the controllers play a roll. Obviously, they’re needed to tell the LEDs what to do, but are they like power injection points, where you need a controller mounted up on the roof every-so-often, depending on the model LEDs you chose, and therefore, how many LEDs one controller handles? Or is the one controller to rule them all, mounted down in the garage next to the power supply? Or? 3) Did I hear you correctly, 12V LEDs draw less amperage per LED? Your graphic stated 5V=.05/LED and 12V=.03/LED. I guess that makes sense, more power means less current for the same output. I think that’s it. If I have another question, I’ll comment, and I REALLY appreciate your feedback! Thank you!!
1) For 5V inject at the beginning and end of every strip, for 12V inject every 2 strips (10m). 2) One controller at the beginning of the run, it sends the data to the LEDs to tell them what color to turn on to at any given time. 3) Yes, wattage is the real metric which would be voltage * amperage. 12V is actually higher wattage, but less amperage.
*Please* consider using a heak shrink hot air gun rather than a naked flame. They are not expensive and are considerably safer and kinder to the cables and their insulation than direct fire
Thanks much for all the information! Suggestion for the future, diy'ers often need a complete system assembly shown, like via diagram or well labeled video, etc. When it's this many concepts and hardware kits and they are spaced out the clarity kinda gets lost. Like I'm confused about where and how to inject, what can coexist with what, very shaky about how they all plug in with the micro boards or how to futureproof/expand. That's because it's all shown piecemeal. A comprehensive, well labeled project flow image at the end just clarifies a ton via singular reference point. At least that's what prevents mistakes and cognitive tutorial dissonance for me. You could show one setup with 12v strips and proper wires/hardware, one with 5v, etc. Anyway thanks, some of the best info out there, keep making vids!
Thank you for all the pixel videos you have done. I’ve really learned a lot from them. They actually helped me to be able to understand pixel channels , universes. Especially when you suggested using Test tool in XLights. That really helped. I wanted to ask you. What are using to do the lights on edges of your driveway? Thank you again for all your help.
Again - you are a fantastic resource and the quality of your videos is so much better than everyone else. I'm amazed. But sometimes you move through things pretty fast. The installation of the strips is a little confusing to me. You say you don't want to be soldering on a ladder (excellent advice!), but how do you make a 40 meter run including the soldering of the injection points, accurate placement of roof gable angles and corner bends all in one piece on the ground? It seems like this would be so likely to break or have the measurements an inch off when I hit a 90 degree bend in the roof line when I put the LED strip into the channel. If you could share some tips (possibly in a different video) I'd really appreciate it.
This is great, and so easy for me. I found some older videos from you and it got me to this one. But... Out of stock on all the controllers... I've been wanting to do this. Was going to do it with cheap Amazon kits. Hopefully the quinled gets back soon.
I'm preparing to do my house and found this very useful, but I'm struggling with where to place the power supplies and the controller. It looks like you have electrical box outside your house. Would you be able to show that in more details? What are some methods that others have used?
Can you recommend an enclosure to put the psu and digquad (and all the wiring) into? Does it need to have ventilation for the psu? Also, I anticipate keeping these in my garage, so keeping them weather proof isn’t too much of a concern of mine.
ref the 12v bonfire pixels, most were Regulated pixels from one vendor last year (2020) who had a dodgy pcb design & the regulators could burn out. I've not heard of a 12v resistor (which most are) doing that.
I sort of agree with you, though I find the data collection methods on pixel report extremely dubious. Without also collecting information about working pixels within the community there's no way to draw a meaningful conclusion. The xLights community largely orders from Ray and is also the target audience for pixel report. The xlights community has also heavily favored regulated pixels in posts and articles which could explain the prevalence of that in the data set.
Great overview! It gave me some ideas about how I might setup some LED strips under my soffits. And, I see that the new DigiQuad supports up to 24 volts, so that will help with power injection on some of my longer runs.
@@TheHookUp Yes, I would put buck converters at various points to inject more power and keep the brightness even. I currently use a central 24V DC power supply in my basement network rack to run under-cabinet lights in a couple of rooms, with local buck converters. This significantly reduces the losses due to resistance in the cable runs.
Awesome video - thanks! Have you considered using the aluminum channel as the ground for your power injection runs? seems like it could carry quite a bit of current if you wanted it to.
Change the drop down box to 12V (30mA). If you have 525 12V string pixels that would be approximately 16A. If you have the power supply, wire size and power injection to support 16A then you do not need to run the brightness limiter, however if you notice that the LEDs at the end of the string look like they are a different color you can try to lower the brightness limiter until there is no color inaccuracy (start with something like 10A which is 10,000mA).
Cableguard CG-1000 was the standard, but it's been discontinued. This year I used one of these: amzn.to/3kLRdCe and it's very sturdy, but twice the price that the cableguard used to be.
A person’s head could easily get overwhelmed with all the information in videos, especially when a bunch of choices are compared. I need advice. I have a single story home, no vaults in the roof, so I’m looking at a simple straight roof line. It’s about 60 feet to cover the entire front of the house at the roof line. So, here is what I would love to know I want strings not strips because I don’t want to make cuts. I’m looking for 12 volts so I need to know which ones to get and how many to get. The permatrack looks easy to use, but I think I want something to diffuse the instead of seeing the individual lights. Is it possible to have a diffuser for strings? So what kind of lights What kind of controller and power supply And for 60 feet would I need a power injection? And is that all I’d need? Lights Power Controller Track Diffuser (In south Florida)
Ummm, if you use the wrong gauge for the amp draw you will start a fire, no matter the voltage. Up to you if you want to believe the no fire at 5 volts.
Installing led is interesting part, climbing the roof is the fun part, ending up in the trauma department is the sad part, and pay the pro for installation is the safest part.
Perfect timing for this video. I have been doing a lot of research this week regarding this project. I have taken a lot of your advises from your various previous videos for my project and have decided to use 12V 5M strips with aluminum channels. Couple questions for more clarification: 1.) What size wire would you recommend using for a 12V setup? Some people have recommended 16 gauge, would 18 gauge work? 2.) My setup is originally going to be 2 lvl linear run, should I still get the DigQuad instead of DigUno, or is DigQuad a bit overkilled for me, or am I better off getting DigQuad anyways so that there’s room for expansion somewhere down the road? Thanks a lot for making these great videos!!!
Wow, your videos are GREAT. Closing on our construction loan 11/29/21and want to be sure I'm understanding your video for installing Permanent LEDs. I'm guessimating I'll need 150' of LEDs doing our front and right side of our single story house and I'm close to $1000 on stuff. I selected a 12V 30A Power Supply by Alitove. The Dig-Quad with Ethernet Add-On Board isn't available yet. I'm confused on the power injection stuff. I run a 18AWG 2 conductor wire(speaker wire) from my power supply in the garage to my first strip of each run. I'll do this twice since I'm thinking I'll have a front run (85')and a right side run (65'). Then I'll run a 18AWG 3 conductor wire from the beginning of the first strip of the run to the end of the first strip then a small jumper to the beginning of the next strip of each run about 1/2" each. Is this correct?
Oh my! I totally appreciate all the good work you put into your videos. I started two days ago and am knee deep in WS2812B strips, wire, connectors, and a $100 soldering iron (with is very cool!). I am all ready to make this happen except for ONE THING... I am 5 hours into trying to figure out how I should make permanent waterproof wire connection between my 18 gauge Power Injection leads (coming off the LED Strips at each segment's beginning and end) and the 22 gauge parallel in-track wire. Do I cut the 22 gauge parallel wire each time I am to connect it to an LED Strip Power Injection lead? And if so, how do I connect the three wires together using a Haisstronica Solder & Seal connector? I can't find anything in TH-cam showing me that it is acceptable to connect 3 wires together this way (as these connections MUST last as long as possible). Am I thinking about this correctly? I believe you are saying to run a second pair of 22 gauge power wires inside the tracks the entire run of LED Strips - and connect them to each of the Power Injection leads (which are solders at the beginning and end of every LED Strip which are connected by 3 wires. However, if I cut the 22 gauge parallel wire, I will then have three wires to connect together? Or, do I connect the lead wire to the 22 gauge wire without cutting it??!? I am SO STUCK. I must be thinking about this incorrectly... Did I mention that I am near the end of building my own house and I want/need to take the scaffolding down this coming week? The second story roof line is at 21 feet high with a 12/12 roof. I have one shot at this - AND I NEED TO GET IT RIGHT.... Can someone put me out of my misery???
New to the channel great info I’m not great with computers and trying to learn the whole audrino thing can’t even spell it right 😅but want to do some lighting on the house for the holidays nothing fancy like you have but want to build a controller in a waterproof box like on your video did you build those yourself if so do you have a parts list and a wire schematics thanks for the help and sharing your experience and knowledge great video
So for some reason I can’t re comment I bought all the stuff you recommended in the video of your website and links I just couldn’t get the Ethernet chip I had to get the external Wifi which hopefully works good and then my other question is you have those boxs that you use to store your mother board and power supply what are they called and where would I get those? That’s one thing I don’t see listed
Ok, here is my question. When power injecting.....if you are adding, lets say, 4 power injection points...do all of those wires run to the SAME exact power supply, or does each injection point have to have a separate power supply? And follow up question...If all those wires are going to the same injection power, wont it get a little too crowded for all those wires? Thank you!
Same supply, you can do power injection with multiple supplies, but you shouldn't connect the positive wires together. Here's a more in depth description: th-cam.com/video/apwQ5Jh4VyE/w-d-xo.html
Awesome video. Been wanting to do this for a while but so daunting not being familiar with this niche. Will probably look at doing it next year. Not enough time to plan it out now :(
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Just want to take a minute to acknowledge how high you set the bar for a Smart Home TH-cam videos. Always great impartial advice, regular updates (like this video), and you make watching these videos both easy to navigate and fun to watch.
Thanks man. This is a great community to be a part of.
Awesome video! It'll get even more people into this awesome hobby! 🤩And of course thank you so much for the shout out for my boards, really really appreciated! 🤯
This is a massive mainstream acknowledgement of your hard work and continuing dedication. Coming from the face of an industry that has generally ignored genius in order to sell more of the proprietary garbage controllers they've stockpiled in their garages and basements. They didn't understand the technology and your often smoking brilliance before investing everything on more popular yet incredibly inferior (and soon to be obsolete) controller hardware and software. I've seen them blatantly boycott you on almost every platform from TH-cam to Reddit just to maximize profit rather than backing Intermit.Tech from the beginning like they should have. Thank you Quindor and Air cookie: for you have single handedly changed the entire game and we won't ever forget it.
@@CharlieLOL Oh wow just seeing this comment now, thank you very much for the kind words! Hand in hand (hardware and software) we're both very happy how it makes these types of installs so much easier and approachable for normal people (like we are too)! Let's see what we can do in the coming years! :D
I got word from Quindor that the QuinLED DigQuad V3 is available now in the international store and should be in the DrZzs US store within the next day or two.
Video correction: The size heat shrink for joining LED strips should be 3/8" not 3/4", the correct product is linked in the store page.
Any idea when the permatrack will be available again?
The digquad with Ethernet is out of stock at the moment, but the external antenna is in stock.
@@williamcunningham5805 try the
international store. I got a few there when Dr.Zzzs was out of stock here locally.
And those are good for the ip67?
I love the fantastic tip about adding electrical tape inside aluminum channel to avoid problems with freezing condensation. Bravo!
Love the consolidation of all your outdoor lighting in one video! Definitely not a replacement for your more in-depth videos but a fantastic overview!
Thank you for the update…removing the resistor solved issues I’ve been having with a long run to some arches! I tried boosters, including the one shown without totally being able to solve the problem. Removed the resistor and all is good!
Wanted to mention that I did something that I haven’t seen anyone else do…I couldn’t decide between strips shining towards or away from my house, so I did both! I put strips in a diffused channel, then stuck a second strip to the back side of the channel pointed towards the house. Now the color lighting up my house can be different than the animations on my strip facing the street. 😎👍
Epic, are you in the facebook group? I'd love to see some pictures.
If you have pictures I'd also like to see the difference between pointing towards the street or towards the ground. My house is brown and soffit is white, so I'm guessing for me pointing out would give a better effect. (reflecting off the white soffit)
I know that you could in theory take these same steps and make a tree lighting rig; one that could be wrapped on a tree this year, taken down at the end of the season, and then used again next year. I think that would be an amazing new video. Don't you? Well if not, maybe I'll get around to it soon myself. Thanks for the updated info.
Thanks for another great video, I have used your and Dr Zzs videos alot as I have started playing around with the hobby. I had put up a permanent install of roof line LED's last year, adding a little at a time over the different holidays definitely spreads the costs out, and having great videos like this makes it easier to keep up with changes. Again, thanks Rob.
Wow this is absolutely fantastic! Such high production quality too! I plan to start small this year with my dig-quad v1 and 600 lights on my Christmas tree for easier power injection using those fairy LEDs. My ultimate goal is the set up that you have on the house. Thank you for such an amazing video! Your channel along with Dr.Zzs and Quindor are the best!
Careful with those fairy lights, they are easy to short out since the wires are just enameled, also not for use outside.
Thanks Rob will do! I already have it all wired up on my desk to test everything and just need to carefully transfer it to the tree in the next couple of days. Thanks for the advice.
@@TheHookUp I see what you mean about being careful. I was putting the last strand on the tree and one of the LEDs on that last strand started smoking!! I had to unplug real quick and replace the strip. Inside one of the actual LEDs was all charred and black. Geesh! It was actually about to start a fire.
Absolutely amazing guide and thanks for doing all the grunt work! Right now I'm trying to decide between this or paying for a permanent system. Not sure I have the energy to diy this.
I have a few friends with the pro kind. My only real issue with them is the spacing, most of the big companies limit you to 4 inch spacing or more (some as high as 12" spacing!), which looks fine for Christmas but odd during other holidays and limits animations.
@@TheHookUp That was actually my first question to them, typical length is 9" and shortest they go is 6", but I'm pretty sure that would double the price.
I watch ur channel to lol ... man it's super easy and u got this ... once done u will love it
I just got Jellyfish Lighting installed and they’re magical. No regrets here.
@@ScarpaProperties Exactly what I got a quote on. Good to hear!
Where was this video last month?! I am midway through installing permanent lights on the roof line of the house. I started the project in late September to avoid the rush of trying to get it done before Thanksgiving. I scoured TH-cam for bits of information, to include every video you and Dr zZz have put out on the topic. This video combines all of that into one spot. Just watched it and still pulled out some good information. Thanks!
Quindor has a really good video explaining why 33 ohm is the right resistor to use if you are using a 3-wire combined data/power line and 249 ohm is the right resistor if you are using a 2-wire power wire and a separate 1-wire data wire.
I saw it, I'm skeptical :P
Really appreciate all your videos but after showing this one to my wife she agreed to overcome her aversion and "test" some led strip lighting in an inconspicuous place outside (far away from the house) and if it goes OK then we can talk again lol! So I just ordered a dig-uno! Thanks again!
OK so I've FINALLY decided after 3 years LOL I'm going to follow your guides because you have a great system for perm lights. NOW just to buy all the stuff required...... I'd like to work on this during the summer to be ready for Christmas 2022...... Thank you!
This is seriously amazing. I've been following you for about 4 years now. Thank you for doing what you do. I don't have the particularly best home to do this because most of it isn't seen by the street. After seeing this, I feel more enticed to do a project like this. Thank you for doing what you do (again!)
Good luck!
I was waiting for this video! Dr. ZZzz hadn't put one out yet and I really dislike watching hour long live streams to find 5 minutes of content. Thank you so much!
Glad I saw this video. Years ago I looked into the systems provided by HolidayCoro, Hinks, and similar, and kind of scowled at how "closed" they seemed. Yeah, the protocols were open, but an ESP32 is a lot more OPEN than what I saw then. Was one of those projects that I wanted to do, but they looked like they were going to be a big hassle to finish. The megatrees are enticing, but everything else felt like a minefield where a single misstep leads to weeks wasted and foul language
This spring, I think I've got a new project
Thanks for the update Rob! Still the internet's most succinct teacher for tech. 😀
Rob - did you stop to breathe at any point during that excellent video? 🤣
Nope, and I had to film it twice because my mic ran out of batteries 2 minutes into it the first time :)
Had to pause around 12:00 to take a break and think about life. Great video.
You, Sir, are a TH-cam ninja. This content is comprehensive & organized, the order and presentation are clearly well thought out, and each topic is succinctly conveyed with video that cogently illustrates the accompanying point you're conveying. I would feel confident using this 22 minute video as my singular resource to obtain, install & maintain LED holiday lighting. Amazing! Thank you! Liked & Subscribed.
I really want to do this. My neighbor just had a service come out and do an install on their house. I asked what their quote was. $4k... I just put the stuff you recommended in my Amazon cart. $600-ish. It would definitely be nice to just flip a switch and the lights are on and customizable.
I'm a bit surprised to see more fails with 12V rather than 5V considering the current through the wire on 12V is significantly lower if the same power is being delivered. It is true that 12V has a higher chance of arcing, but the distance to arc to common is extremely small.
I was thinking of redoing my stairs and was looking into led strip lighting. and this came up! and all I have to say is wow! I didn't know so much could be done. Definitely gonna look at your videos and learn a bit more. if my stair project comes out great. I may just want to do this for outside lighting as well!. Great video! lots of good information!
Dude, I just found your channel and browsed through a lot of your videos and ❤️ the content! I’m MAD 😡 at myself for not finding your channel earlier! New subscriber here 🤗 and super excited to binge watch your past videos.
Welcome aboard!
Awesome video, Thanks! My plan is to install a permanent setup this spring, I can start ordering parts. I've been using WLED for a couple of years for my kitchen lighting with home assistant and some 8266 controllers, no issues at all. If it ever fails I'll need to relearn my setup because I haven't touched it in so long I don't remember the details anymore.
Thanks for this video for us newbies that are figuring this out.
Well geez, I’ve already started with your other videos lol. Man you added so much more, dang it.
I’m new to all this, this is my first year and used all of your beginner videos. Learned to solder and all from you. Got a complete custom setup now, garage door, roof line and the peak roof
Line. Finalizing my power injections and I hope it all works.
I had seen posting on using JChannel and Pixels, that require a lot of drilling. the UChannel is nearly the same price, less labor and better finish. Awesome. My only complaint, is using a Western Union Splice. That splice is used for mechanical stress(tension), but it not the best for conductivity. Linemans splice is a better splice.
Thank you TH-cam algorithm. I was just thinking about checking on this to see if it's worth "never having to decorate for the holidays again" 🤔 (16 hours after upload at time of comment)
It is a little bit magic.
Stunning new 'How To' and this really helped tip me into the QuinLED camp. Just given how late in the year it already is, this will be a project for Spring 2022.
But my recent experience in using LED strips and aluminum channel for lighting my pergola (more thanks for flagging that awesome patio addition in your earlier video!) has made me pretty confident that this will be a successful project. Thanks for the research and the tips!
The 5v fire test you performed is fascinating to me. I need to look more into the details because I have had solid core 22 gauge wire almost instantly heat up enough to burn my fingers and start melting the plastic from a short. I have also had a USB-C cable in my car scorch and melt part of the floor matt because it was plugged in and came to rest in a small puddle of salty water on the floor.
I haven't looked into the 5v tests, so I can't verify myself, but I wanted to point out that USB C tends to run at higher voltages than 5v
@@PoisonWaffle3 For some variants with the right power supply this is true. But in my case it was plugged into my 2016 Tacoma USB port which outputs 2.1A at 5v.
Lots of good information / content here. I do like how he put everything into one video and it does go over many of the problems that are faced when choosing a particular type (and voltage) of LEDs.
You are the master of a Merry Christmas!
FYI - Falcon are up to V4. Also, although you have been fine with strip (apart from the lightning storm), it tends to not last as well in colder, harsher climates. YMMV. Excelent video as always, and prop to Quindor and Aircookie for their awesome work.
Good info on the falcon controller. I don't follow that scene super closely. I used to think the same about strips, but in my last video I asked for people's experience with strips based on climate and it was a mixed bag. Small sample size, but about 50 people responded with their information and there was no correlation between success and failure based on climate.
Amazing video. I'll be building them now for next year.
So with parallel injection, I can run one continuous wire along the whole house (200ft) and just splice and solder the LEDs into that same wire every strip?
I don’t have to run a separate injection wire for every strip, do I?
Any chance you have a video or diagram of how exactly everything is ran and where everything is installed? Very curious to see a real life setup/install.
How do you run power to your lights along the curb line? maybe you could do a video on how you run power to lights on the ground? What lights are you using along the curb as well?
Yo Rob, slow down brother. Great stuff, but you certainly turned the speed up to 11 for this one.
Lol I had to rewind certain parts like 5 times to understand what he's saying. Or...turn the speed down!
All good though., there's a lot of stuff there, awesome.
You can also change the playback speed slightly to better fit your preference.
4:39 After two strip failures, NOW he tells us!! LOL. Just kidding. Great video.
Wow - learned something new - the data line resistor may very well be the issue with my dig-uno's flickering. The data line is only about 10 feet to the light string but still get flickering. Yeah I know there are many things that can cause the flickering but I think I have tested for and eliminated all other possibilities. Thanks Rob!
Let me know if that fixes your issues!
Hi, in your video you mention basic maintenance for your lights. What kind of basic maintenance is required?
The panel looks great! Thank you so much for the great review! Glad you love it.
thank you for this! i'm going to start planning for next year!!
Great information!! Instructions are detailed and concise without a long drawn out 1 hour video. ;)
Wonderful video. Learn so much. You deserve more subscriptions!
Oh, I was going to say, my biggest fear is that I buy too much or not enough or whatever and I just didn't plan everything out correctly. I'll be watching your videos through a few more times.
I noticed WLED uses FastLED in it's software. FastLED can be used with just about any smartled out there.
Great video! Is there any guidance on how far away from the first strip of lights the power supply and controller can be? I want to put the power and controller in my garage and then run the power and data cables to the roofline, approx 10-15m before hitting the first lights. Will that cause issues?
Can you expand on the parallel run for power injection? Can I run a 22awg wire along the strips and use a T tap connector to inject at each strip? Is there a limit how far the 22awg can be?
Yes this question 🙋🏻♀️
Been sort of waiting in the wings for tech like this to become more user friendly for my business. This is still nerd level 9 but being able to show a customer the possibilities seems doable now. I'm honestly shocked that I don't see inward-facing eve lighting hardly anywhere but it's definitely the future. The clean unnoticeable track of outward facing pick your mood/ holiday lighting is amazing too. Does someone make a wired booster track diffuser combo type of thingy? Guess it's no big deal to lay a wire with the strip but it's nice to have stuff super tidy.
My house looks a little like yours. Can you tee off of the string on the bottom eaves (power, ground, data lines) and run wire (with no leds) up to the second floor eaves and then connect a second set of leds to that? What I mean is a strip of bare wire in the middle.
Thank you again for an awesome video! I know I’m cutting it close to this year’s season, but there are a few questions I have that don’t seem to be answered directly when research getting into this.
1) I’m a little under-knowledged on the power injection points, and specifically, where/how often they need to happen. You mention running the power line in the channel with the strip; is that the way the whole thing is done? Then the ‘how often’ is related to your strip model? Do you run the power line right on top of, but along the side of the strip? Under the strip?
2) Controllers: it’s not clear to me how, and specifically where the controllers play a roll. Obviously, they’re needed to tell the LEDs what to do, but are they like power injection points, where you need a controller mounted up on the roof every-so-often, depending on the model LEDs you chose, and therefore, how many LEDs one controller handles? Or is the one controller to rule them all, mounted down in the garage next to the power supply? Or?
3) Did I hear you correctly, 12V LEDs draw less amperage per LED? Your graphic stated 5V=.05/LED and 12V=.03/LED. I guess that makes sense, more power means less current for the same output.
I think that’s it. If I have another question, I’ll comment, and I REALLY appreciate your feedback! Thank you!!
1) For 5V inject at the beginning and end of every strip, for 12V inject every 2 strips (10m).
2) One controller at the beginning of the run, it sends the data to the LEDs to tell them what color to turn on to at any given time.
3) Yes, wattage is the real metric which would be voltage * amperage. 12V is actually higher wattage, but less amperage.
Love your videos but that one is a true must !! 👍 Thx so much for this pack of infos 👍🎉
That was super informational, thanks! Very interested in doing this to my home.
*Please* consider using a heak shrink hot air gun rather than a naked flame. They are not expensive and are considerably safer and kinder to the cables and their insulation than direct fire
Thanks much for all the information! Suggestion for the future, diy'ers often need a complete system assembly shown, like via diagram or well labeled video, etc. When it's this many concepts and hardware kits and they are spaced out the clarity kinda gets lost. Like I'm confused about where and how to inject, what can coexist with what, very shaky about how they all plug in with the micro boards or how to futureproof/expand. That's because it's all shown piecemeal. A comprehensive, well labeled project flow image at the end just clarifies a ton via singular reference point. At least that's what prevents mistakes and cognitive tutorial dissonance for me. You could show one setup with 12v strips and proper wires/hardware, one with 5v, etc. Anyway thanks, some of the best info out there, keep making vids!
Thank you for all the pixel videos you have done. I’ve really learned a lot from them. They actually helped me to be able to understand pixel channels , universes. Especially when you suggested using Test tool in XLights. That really helped. I wanted to ask you. What are using to do the lights on edges of your driveway?
Thank you again for all your help.
Really cool! Thanks for the video... it was very informative.
Again - you are a fantastic resource and the quality of your videos is so much better than everyone else. I'm amazed. But sometimes you move through things pretty fast. The installation of the strips is a little confusing to me. You say you don't want to be soldering on a ladder (excellent advice!), but how do you make a 40 meter run including the soldering of the injection points, accurate placement of roof gable angles and corner bends all in one piece on the ground? It seems like this would be so likely to break or have the measurements an inch off when I hit a 90 degree bend in the roof line when I put the LED strip into the channel. If you could share some tips (possibly in a different video) I'd really appreciate it.
FANTASTIC ! Explanation thanks !!
This is great, and so easy for me. I found some older videos from you and it got me to this one. But... Out of stock on all the controllers... I've been wanting to do this. Was going to do it with cheap Amazon kits. Hopefully the quinled gets back soon.
Wish I could give this 5 thumbs up
Thanks for your channel to test BTF-Lighting LED lighting, you have done good job with you channel.
Will you add the 22 AWG wire you use for power injection to your Amazon list?
I'm preparing to do my house and found this very useful, but I'm struggling with where to place the power supplies and the controller. It looks like you have electrical box outside your house. Would you be able to show that in more details? What are some methods that others have used?
I keep my year round power supplies in the garage, the outdoor ones are for seasonal props.
Great video Rob, thank you.
Those transitions 😍
Any major changes for 2023? This is a great guide, thanks for all of the info!
I'll be doing an update to this around the middle of November, but no major changes.
Can you recommend an enclosure to put the psu and digquad (and all the wiring) into? Does it need to have ventilation for the psu? Also, I anticipate keeping these in my garage, so keeping them weather proof isn’t too much of a concern of mine.
Viewed liked saved subscribed... the whole 9 yards great vid thanks
I'm confused. You mention both strings and straps, then go on to just talk about strips. How does this apply to strings? Is it the same?
ref the 12v bonfire pixels, most were Regulated pixels from one vendor last year (2020) who had a dodgy pcb design & the regulators could burn out. I've not heard of a 12v resistor (which most are) doing that.
I sort of agree with you, though I find the data collection methods on pixel report extremely dubious. Without also collecting information about working pixels within the community there's no way to draw a meaningful conclusion. The xLights community largely orders from Ray and is also the target audience for pixel report. The xlights community has also heavily favored regulated pixels in posts and articles which could explain the prevalence of that in the data set.
What a great guide, thank you.
Great overview! It gave me some ideas about how I might setup some LED strips under my soffits. And, I see that the new DigiQuad supports up to 24 volts, so that will help with power injection on some of my longer runs.
24V input on the DigQuad would be only if you were using 24V LEDs. Are you planning on using large step down converters?
@@TheHookUp Yes, I would put buck converters at various points to inject more power and keep the brightness even. I currently use a central 24V DC power supply in my basement network rack to run under-cabinet lights in a couple of rooms, with local buck converters. This significantly reduces the losses due to resistance in the cable runs.
Awesome video - thanks!
Have you considered using the aluminum channel as the ground for your power injection runs? seems like it could carry quite a bit of current if you wanted it to.
Dude!! you are sooooo good and helpful! Thank you!
We also want new updated vidoes about pixel led types and new models of pixel led
Im confused by the brightness limiter in wled. If i have 525 12v string pixels. what should I set it to?
Change the drop down box to 12V (30mA). If you have 525 12V string pixels that would be approximately 16A. If you have the power supply, wire size and power injection to support 16A then you do not need to run the brightness limiter, however if you notice that the LEDs at the end of the string look like they are a different color you can try to lower the brightness limiter until there is no color inaccuracy (start with something like 10A which is 10,000mA).
Rob, thanks for another great video. Any recommendations on outdoor power supply housing? or are they all pretty much the same?
Cableguard CG-1000 was the standard, but it's been discontinued. This year I used one of these: amzn.to/3kLRdCe and it's very sturdy, but twice the price that the cableguard used to be.
A person’s head could easily get overwhelmed with all the information in videos, especially when a bunch of choices are compared.
I need advice. I have a single story home, no vaults in the roof, so I’m looking at a simple straight roof line. It’s about 60 feet to cover the entire front of the house at the roof line. So, here is what I would love to know
I want strings not strips because I don’t want to make cuts.
I’m looking for 12 volts so I need to know which ones to get and how many to get.
The permatrack looks easy to use, but I think I want something to diffuse the instead of seeing the individual lights. Is it possible to have a diffuser for strings?
So what kind of lights
What kind of controller and power supply
And for 60 feet would I need a power injection?
And is that all I’d need?
Lights
Power
Controller
Track
Diffuser
(In south Florida)
lol, bit late in november 2021, good luck even finding LEDs in stock
Most of the links in the description are still in stock for prime delivery.
I need someone to come and put them up here.
Ummm, if you use the wrong gauge for the amp draw you will start a fire, no matter the voltage. Up to you if you want to believe the no fire at 5 volts.
Good luck drawing enough amps to start a fire with 5v. Volts are the push behind the electrons, thin wire has high resistance.
Very comprehensive! Great job
Installing led is interesting part, climbing the roof is the fun part, ending up in the trauma department is the sad part, and pay the pro for installation is the safest part.
Lots of people that are really into the hobby rent a scissor lift for installation, they are significantly safer than ladders or climbing on the roof.
Perfect timing for this video. I have been doing a lot of research this week regarding this project. I have taken a lot of your advises from your various previous videos for my project and have decided to use 12V 5M strips with aluminum channels. Couple questions for more clarification: 1.) What size wire would you recommend using for a 12V setup? Some people have recommended 16 gauge, would 18 gauge work? 2.) My setup is originally going to be 2 lvl linear run, should I still get the DigQuad instead of DigUno, or is DigQuad a bit overkilled for me, or am I better off getting DigQuad anyways so that there’s room for expansion somewhere down the road? Thanks a lot for making these great videos!!!
18 awg is fine. If your budget allows I'd get a quad, it's not that much more and you get a lot more for your few extra dollars.
@@TheHookUp Just bought two Quads with external antenna as those were to only one in stock for now.
Okay, awesome! Now, what was that middle thing again?
What power supply box is best for the led quad
Anyway you can do a video about your megatree
Any plans to do another updated video this year? Great stuff!
Wow, your videos are GREAT. Closing on our construction loan 11/29/21and want to be sure I'm understanding your video for installing Permanent LEDs. I'm guessimating I'll need 150' of LEDs doing our front and right side of our single story house and I'm close to $1000 on stuff. I selected a 12V 30A Power Supply by Alitove. The Dig-Quad with Ethernet Add-On Board isn't available yet. I'm confused on the power injection stuff. I run a 18AWG 2 conductor wire(speaker wire) from my power supply in the garage to my first strip of each run. I'll do this twice since I'm thinking I'll have a front run (85')and a right side run (65'). Then I'll run a 18AWG 3 conductor wire from the beginning of the first strip of the run to the end of the first strip then a small jumper to the beginning of the next strip of each run about 1/2" each. Is this correct?
Oh my! I totally appreciate all the good work you put into your videos. I started two days ago and am knee deep in WS2812B strips, wire, connectors, and a $100 soldering iron (with is very cool!). I am all ready to make this happen except for ONE THING... I am 5 hours into trying to figure out how I should make permanent waterproof wire connection between my 18 gauge Power Injection leads (coming off the LED Strips at each segment's beginning and end) and the 22 gauge parallel in-track wire. Do I cut the 22 gauge parallel wire each time I am to connect it to an LED Strip Power Injection lead? And if so, how do I connect the three wires together using a Haisstronica Solder & Seal connector? I can't find anything in TH-cam showing me that it is acceptable to connect 3 wires together this way (as these connections MUST last as long as possible).
Am I thinking about this correctly? I believe you are saying to run a second pair of 22 gauge power wires inside the tracks the entire run of LED Strips - and connect them to each of the Power Injection leads (which are solders at the beginning and end of every LED Strip which are connected by 3 wires. However, if I cut the 22 gauge parallel wire, I will then have three wires to connect together? Or, do I connect the lead wire to the 22 gauge wire without cutting it??!? I am SO STUCK. I must be thinking about this incorrectly... Did I mention that I am near the end of building my own house and I want/need to take the scaffolding down this coming week? The second story roof line is at 21 feet high with a 12/12 roof. I have one shot at this - AND I NEED TO GET IT RIGHT.... Can someone put me out of my misery???
Please post what you figured out. In the same fix
@@luv14lyf did you figure it out. I'm in the same predicament.
New to the channel great info I’m not great with computers and trying to learn the whole audrino thing can’t even spell it right 😅but want to do some lighting on the house for the holidays nothing fancy like you have but want to build a controller in a waterproof box like on your video did you build those yourself if so do you have a parts list and a wire schematics thanks for the help and sharing your experience and knowledge great video
You should NEVER use a flame to shrink the sleeve. You burn it and the wire, and degrade the connection.. Always use hot air.
So for some reason I can’t re comment I bought all the stuff you recommended in the video of your website and links I just couldn’t get the Ethernet chip I had to get the external Wifi which hopefully works good and then my other question is you have those boxs that you use to store your mother board and power supply what are they called and where would I get those? That’s one thing I don’t see listed
Ok, here is my question. When power injecting.....if you are adding, lets say, 4 power injection points...do all of those wires run to the SAME exact power supply, or does each injection point have to have a separate power supply? And follow up question...If all those wires are going to the same injection power, wont it get a little too crowded for all those wires?
Thank you!
Same supply, you can do power injection with multiple supplies, but you shouldn't connect the positive wires together. Here's a more in depth description: th-cam.com/video/apwQ5Jh4VyE/w-d-xo.html
My 2811 pixels from Amazon actually had 4 inch wire spacing allowing me to have 3 inch spacing in my j channel
Awesome video. Been wanting to do this for a while but so daunting not being familiar with this niche. Will probably look at doing it next year. Not enough time to plan it out now :(